spreadsheet file descriptions · page 3 the information contained in these documents is...

Spreadsheet File Descriptions

v.201905

v.201903

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Common Elements.................................................................................................................................................................... 3

-All.csv ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 5

-Argos.csv ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

-Behavior.csv ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9

-Corrupt.csv .............................................................................................................................................................................. 11

-DailyData.csv........................................................................................................................................................................... 12

-DDN.csv .................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

-DivePDT.csv ............................................................................................................................................................................. 14

-FastlocGPS.csv ........................................................................................................................................................................ 14

-X-GPE3.csv ............................................................................................................................................................................... 16

-HaulOut.csv ............................................................................................................................................................................. 17

-Histos.csv .................................................................................................................................................................................. 18

-Labels.csv ................................................................................................................................................................................. 19

-Lightloc.csv .............................................................................................................................................................................. 19

-Locations.csv ........................................................................................................................................................................... 22

-X-Locations.csv ...................................................................................................................................................................... 23

-MinMaxDepth.csv ................................................................................................................................................................. 24

-MixLayer.csv ............................................................................................................................................................................ 25

-PDTs.csv .................................................................................................................................................................................... 27

-RawArgos.csv .......................................................................................................................................................................... 28

-RTC.csv ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 30

-Series.csv .................................................................................................................................................................................. 31

-SeriesRange.csv...................................................................................................................................................................... 32

-SST.csv ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 34

-Status.csv .................................................................................................................................................................................. 35

-STP.csv ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 39

-Summary.csv ........................................................................................................................................................................... 40

The information contained in these documents is confidential, privileged and only for the information of the intended recipient and may not be used, published or redistributed without the prior written consent of Wildlife Computers.

Introduction Data from Wildlife Computers tags is presented in spreadsheet (CSV) files. Since there are many different categories of data reported, there are likewise many distinct spreadsheet files generated with different data and diagnostic information. When data is downloaded, you are given the opportunity to assign a name to the file. A suffix is automatically added to the name you supply to help you identify the contents of each spreadsheet. For instance, if your tag sends status messages, a spreadsheet whose name ends with –Status.csv will be available. Following are brief explanations of each spreadsheet and descriptions of the spreadsheet columns and rows. Wildlife Computers intends to preserve the column names, ordering, and meanings as product lines evolve. However, some changes are inevitable. If you are writing software to interpret these files, Wildlife Computers strongly encourages you to minimize your dependence on column order and to localize your use of column names.

Common Elements Some column headings are common to several of the CSV files. This section describes those common elements. Generally speaking, an empty cell in a spreadsheet means the data element is unavailable. A specific value in a cell means the item was decoded or otherwise deduced. Note that for 2000 m instruments, if the setup parameters were not provided when the data were decoded, depth values may need to be doubled. For tags that are programmed in the portal or archival .wch files uploaded to the portal, the setup parameters are automatically accessed, and there is no need to double depth readings for 2000 m tags.

Column Description

DeployID Friendly name given to the tag by the user. If no specific friendly name is given, this is the PTT id.

DepthSensor Indicates the resolution of the depth sensor. Typical values are 0.1m, 0.5m, and 1.0m.

Source Indicates where the data came from, or how it was generated. Possible values include:

Argos - Information was generated on the tag and transmitted through Argos. WCH - Information was interpreted from the .WCH file.


DAP - Information was generated by Wildlife Computers Data Analysis Program.

PTT Argos Platform Transmitter Terminal identifier, which is a unique number identifying your instrument.

Instr Wildlife Computers instrument family. The list will grow over time. Presently the values include MiniPAT, Mk10, SPLASH, and SPOT6.

Count Total number of times a particular data item was received, verified, and successfully decoded.

Date The date and time associated with the row. In the case of histograms, this is the start of the histogram period. Alternatively, it is the time of reception for status messages. Unless otherwise stated, Date is the time as known on the tag and reported by the tag’s real-time clock. It is not corrected for clock error or drift.

NOTE: Experimentation reveals that opening a CSV file with Microsoft Excel and saving the file as a CSV will often truncate the seconds from a time field! This is a very important concern with some files such as LightLoc and Fast-GPS. Files such as these

have Date separated into ‘Day’ and ‘Time’ fields which do not seem to suffer from the problem.

Day The month, day, and year part of the time associated with a row.

Time The hours, minutes, and seconds part of the time associated with a row.

Time Offset The number of seconds of error in the Date field.

Time Offset + Date = Real World Time

Satellite The name of the Argos satellite that received the message.

Latitude Latitude calculated by Argos for the satellite pass of interest.


Longitude Longitude calculated by Argos for the satellite pass of interest.

LocationQuality Class of location generated by Argos for the satellite pass containing this message (see below).

When Argos determines a location, an estimated error is calculated as described in the Argos User’s Manual (http://www.argos-system.org). Following are the values delivered by Argos which appear in the LocationQuality section of several spreadsheet files:

Class Estimated error Number of messages received per

satellite pass

3 <250m 4 messages or more

2 250m < < 500m 4 messages or more

1 500m < < 1500m 4 messages or more

0 >1500m 4 messages or more

A No accuracy estimation 3 messages

B No accuracy estimation 2 messages

Z Invalid location (available only for Service Plus/Auxiliary Location Processing)

-All.csv This file includes all undecoded messages received from Argos. This is very similar to the RawArgos.csv.

Column Description

DeployID Friendly name given to the tag by the user. If no specific friendly name is given, this is the PTT ID.

Platform ID No. Argos Platform Transmitter Terminal identifier, which is a unique number identifying your instrument.

http://www.argos-system.org/


Prg No. The Argos Program number that the PTT id belongs to.

Latitude Latitude of tag.

Longitude Longitude of tag.

Loc. quality Class of location generated by Argos for the satellite pass containing this message.

Loc. date Date and time of location.

Loc. type Type of location: Argos.

Altitude Altitude of location calculated by Argos. Not applicable to marine deployments.

Pass Number of the satellite pass.

Sat. Satellite name.

Mote ID If this message was received by a WC Mote, the name of the Mote will be here.

Frequency Measured frequency of the Argos pass.

Msg Date Date and time that the message was received by Argos.

Comp. Number of duplicate messages in this satellite pass.

Msg Number of messages received in this satellite pass.

> - 120 DB Number of messages with a signal strength > -1200 dB.

Best level dB level of best message in the pass.


Delta freq. Same as 'Frequency.'

Long. 1 Longitude of tag (same as 'Longitude').

Lat. sol. 1 Longitude of tag (same as 'Latitude').

Long. 2 Argos DI messages contain a second longitude value, since their location algorithm can generate two possible positions. This is the second longitude value.

Lat. sol. 2 Argos DI messages contain a second latitude value, since their location algorithm can generate two possible positions. This is the second latitude value.

Loc. idx Location quality index (0…99).

Nopc Number of likely checks.

Error radius If the position is best represented as a circle, this field gives the radius of that circle in meters.

Semi-major axis

If the estimated position error is best expressed as an ellipse, this field gives the length in meters of the semi-major elliptical axis (one half of the major axis).

Semi-minor axis

If the estimated position error is best expressed as an ellipse, this field gives the length in meters of the semi-minor elliptical axis (one half of the minor axis).

Ellipse orientation

The angle in degrees of the ellipse from true north, proceeding clockwise (0 to 360). A blank field represents 0 degrees.

GDOP Geometric Dilution of Precision.

SENSOR #01…. Raw message data.


-Argos.csv Each row in this spreadsheet represents a single Argos satellite pass. Note: that this spreadsheet does NOT contain data from individual received messages.

Column Description



Instr Wildlife Computers instrument family.

RecordType Type of Argos record, either DS or DI.

MsgCount The number of messages received from the PTT for the satellite pass.

Duplicates The number of identical messages received for the satellite pass. An empty cell means no duplicate messages were received for this pass. A value of '1' means the original plus one duplicate was received, '2' means the original plus two duplicates.

Corrupt The number of corrupt messages in the given satellite pass.

AvgInterval The average inter-message interval in seconds of all received messages for the given satellite pass.

MinInterval The minimum inter-message interval in seconds of all received messages for the given satellite pass.

Date The month, day, year, and time associated with a row.


LocationQuality Class of location generated by Argos for the satellite pass containing this message.




Latitude2 Argos DI messages contain a second latitude value, since their location algorithm can generate two possible positions. This is the second latitude value.

Longitude2 Argos DI messages contain a second longitude value, since their location algorithm can generate two possible positions. This is the second longitude value.

IQ Argos-supplied value which gives transmitter frequency information.

Duration Time elapsed between the first and last message received for the satellite pass.

Frequency Calculated frequency of the transmitter.

Power The best received signal strength (dB) during the satellite.

-Behavior.csv Each row of this spreadsheet represents one type of behavior reported by the instrument.

Column Description



DepthSensor Indicates the resolution of the depth sensor. Typical values are 0.1m, 0.5, and 1.0m. The value in this column is blank if the gain was unavailable - in this case a 0.5-meter resolution is assumed.

Source Indicates where the data came from, or how it was generated.



Count Total number of times this particular data item was received, verified, and successfully decoded.

Start Timestamp when the particular behavior item began, to the nearest 30 seconds.

End Timestamp when the particular behavior item ended.

What Kind of element - Surface, Haulout, Dive, Message, or Unrecognized.

Number The number of times the behavior element described by the following Shape, Depth, and Duration columns occurred back-to-back.

Shape If the behavior is a dive, this is the shape of the dive determined by the tag (see below).

DepthMin The dive Depth is between DepthMin and DepthMax meters.

DepthMax The dive Depth is between DepthMin and DepthMax meters.

DurationMin The duration of the element is between DurationMin and DurationMax seconds.

DurationMax The duration of the element is between DurationMin and DurationMax seconds.

Shallow In between dives, this is the spent ABOVE the threshold to determine start and end of a dive.

Deep In between dives, this is the time spent BELOW the threshold to determine start and end of a time and ABOVE the depth required to qualify a dive.


Tags that perform behavior processing classify dives into one of three simple shapes (square, V, and U) by assuming the bottom of a dive is any depth reading >= 80% of the maximum reading observed for the dive. If the total duration for the dive is T and the total time between the first bottom reading and the last bottom reading is B:

Shape Bottom Time

Square B > 50% T

V B <= 20% T

U 20% T < B <= 50% T

-Corrupt.csv Each row is a message whose contents was rejected by DAP. Most messages transmitted by Wildlife Computers’ tags incorporate features allowing detection of data corruption. There are many ways perfectly formed messages can be corrupted on their journey to and from an Argos satellite, including:

• Salt water may have splashed over the tag’s antenna during the transmission. • Another message may have been simultaneously transmitted by a different platform, and the

two messages may have corrupted each other. • Atmospheric conditions may have led to the corruption of the message.

An abnormally high number of corrupt messages could indicate the type of tag was misidentified by DAP. For instance, if DAP believes a tag is a MK10 but it is actually a MiniPAT all the tag’s status messages will be reported corrupt because MiniPAT and Mk10 encode status messages differently. Such situations will normally reconcile themselves if enough messages are received.

Column Description




Date The time and date when the message was received by Argos.


Duplicates The number of identical messages received for the satellite pass. An empty cell means no duplicate messages were received for this pass. A value of '1' means the original plus one duplicate was received, '2' means the original plus two duplicates.


LocationQuality Class of location generated by Argos for the satellite pass containing this message.

Latitude Latitude portion of the location generated by Argos.

Longitude Longitude portion of the location generated by Argos.

Reason A terse explanation of why the message was rejected. A reason such as "CRC" or "Checksum" means mathematical integrity checks indicate a corrupt message.

Possible Timestamp

If the message at all resembled a valid WC messages, this is the timestamp the data could have had. It is important to realize we are dealing with a corrupt message, so this value may be nonsense.

Possible Type If the message at all resembled a valid WC messages, this is the kind of data the message might have had. It is important to realize we are dealing with a corrupt message, so this value is nonsense.

Byte 0, Byte 1,….

These columns contain the data bytes, in decimal, as received from Argos. Presumably one or more of these data bytes are corrupted.

-DailyData.csv This spreadsheet is generated if the decoded data contain information regarding the broad daily readings of the tag.

Column Description



Date The date of the daily data.


MinTemp The minimum temperature observed during the period.

MaxTemp The maximum temperature observed during the period.

MinDepth The minimum depth observed during the period.

MaxDepth The maximum depth observed during the period.

MaxDeltaTilt Historical. Replaced by AvgMinMaxTilt.

AvgMinMaxTilt The average of the minimum observed tilt for the day and the maximum observed tilt for the day.

DeltaLight The difference between the minimum and maximum light level observed during the previous day.

-DDN.csv Each line in this spreadsheet classifies one hour of behavior as dry, deep, or neither dry nor deep. The definitions of dry and deep are specified when the tag is configured.

Column Description





Date The date and time of the start of the DDN timeline.

Disposition Dry, deep or neither.


Code Number indicating whether it is Dry (0), deep (1), or neither (2).

-DivePDT.csv This spreadsheet is generated if the decoded data contain Deepest-Dive Temperature Depth profiles. These temperature profiles are created from data collected during the deepest dive within the histogram summary period.

Column Description

BadTherm 1 if the tag reported a broken external thermistor during the summary period, 0 if the tag did not report a broken thermistor, and blank if the tag does not report the thermistor condition.

Depth The depth at which the associated temperature reading was measured. Associated with the maximum number of non-zero bins received in any of the current HistType kind of messages.

TemperatureDelta The temperature measured at Depth and encoded as a delta from the base temperature. The actual temperature is this value added to the base temperature.

Temperature The temperature measured at Depth. It is the base temperature plus the Temperature Delta. The tag does not transmit the base temperature and therefore must be obtained from the tag report file. If the setting is not known, this column will be blank.

-FastlocGPS.csv This spreadsheet is generated if the decoded data contain Fast-GPS snapshot information. Each row in the spreadsheet is an individual snapshot. Data needs to be processed using Wildlife Computers GPS Solver on the Portal before locations will be shown in this spreadsheet.

Column Description

Name Friendly name given to the tag by the user. If no specific friendly name is given, this is the PTT ID.

Day The date of the GPS snapshot.

Time The time of the GPS snapshot.



Time Offset Calculated difference between the tag's clock and the time reported by Argos. Adding this value to the value in the 'RTC' column should yield the value in the 'Received' column.

LocNumber The tag increments a counter each time it successfully gathers satellite data. This is the value of that counter when this row's snapshot was taken.

Failures The tag increments a counter each time it attempts to gather satellite data but fails to see enough satellites. This is the current value of that counter when the current snapshot was taken.

Hauled Out Contains '1' if the tag was hauled-out at the time of the snapshot, '0' if not hauled out, and is blank if the tag does not support haul-out or if the original message did not contain haulout information.

Satellites The number of GPS satellites contained in a snapshot. A minimum of 4 satellites is required to successfully generate a location solution. More satellites tend to have less uncertainty.

InitLat Latitude used as the seed to solve the location in this record.

InitLon Longitude used as the seed to solve the location in this record.

InitTime Time used as the seed time to solve the location in this record.

InitType Source of the seed (Init) location.

Latitude The latitude component of the position of this snapshot. This field is empty when the data is decoded from an instrument; it is filled in when a location solution is generated.

Longitude The longitude component of the position of this snapshot. This field is empty when the data is decoded from an instrument; it is filled in when a location solution is generated.

Height The altitude of the position in meters above the WCS84 Geoid model (not sea level). This value has a large margin of error and should probably be ignored.

Bad Sats The number of bad satellites which were discarded when arriving at the solution. Satellites may be discarded because the combination of the observation time and the physical position of the satellite are incompatible (i.e. the satellite should have been on the other side of the earth). Or the satellite could have been out of service. If many rows of the spreadsheet have non-zero 'Bad Sats' values, the timestamp of the observation or the starting location of the snapshot may be in error.


Residual A quality indicator for a GPS position. Large residuals or large time errors relative to other locations can indicate a high degree of uncertainty in the location.

Time Error An estimate of the error of the clock on board the instrument after the value in the Time Offset column has been applied. Solver uses the snapshot time and downloaded RINEX files to determine the satellite geometry when the snapshot was taken. Presuming the Date and Time Offset inputs are correct, this value should remain reasonably small and smoothly change over time.

TWIC Power An optional value indicating how many mAH have been consumed by the instrument's Argos transmitter since the unit had a battery replacement.

Fastloc Power An optional value indicating how many mAH have been consumed by the instrument's Fast-GPS circuitry since the unit had a battery replacement.

Noise Snapshot data used by Solver.

Range Bits Snapshot data used by Solver.

ID Snapshot data used by Solver.

Range Snapshot data used by Solver.

Signal Snapshot data used by Solver.

Doppler Snapshot data used by Solver.

CNR Snapshot data used by Solver.

-X-GPE3.csv This file is produced if light level data has been processed in GPE3 where X is the number of the GPE3 run.

Column Description




Date The date and time of the most likely location.

Most Likely Latitude

The latitude portion of the most likely location at that time represented as decimal latitude.

Most Likely Longitude

The longitude portion of the most likely location at that time represented as decimal longitude.

Observation Type

The observation type that was made at that time if applicable. The model is capable of producing output for times when there are no observations.

Observed SST The observed SST reading if the observation type is SST.

Satellite SST The reference SST reading at the most likely location is also reported.

Observed Depth

The observed depth at the time of the SST reading if the observation type is SST.

Bathymetry Depth

The bathymetry depth is reported at the location of maximum likelihood.

Observation LL (MSS)

If the observation type is light level (i.e. Dawn or Dusk), then the observed Mean Sum of Squares (MSS) is reported for that twilight. The MSS is a measure of how well the observed twilight matches a theoretical twilight. A low MSS represents a high-quality observation. The deepest depth experienced during that twilight is also reported.

Observation Score

The model score is reported at each observation. A high observation score means that the location suggested by the observation matches closely with the modeled location.

Sunrise Theoretical time of geometric sunrise presented in UTC for the most likely location.

Sunset Theoretical time of geometric sunset presented in UTC for the most likely location.

-HaulOut.csv Some tags allow the transmission of haul out information through Argos. Each line in this spreadsheet describes one haulout.

Column Description





ID Every haul out is assigned a numeric identifier by the tag. SPLASH10 tags send the least significant bits of this identifier through Argos to help you detect missing haulout information; this number should cycle from 0-15 and repeat.

Start The tag's real-time clock value after the first dry minute of the start of the haulout was detected.

End The tag's real-time clock value after the first wet minute ending the haulout was detected.

Duration The length in minutes of the haulout, to a maximum of approximately 2 days and 18 hours.

LocationQuality Historical. No longer applicable.

Latitude Historical. No longer applicable.

Longitude Historical. No longer applicable.

-Histos.csv This spreadsheet accumulates histogram data including Time at Depth (TAD), Time at Temperature (TAT), Percent Timelines, and Twenty Minute Timelines.

Column Description







HistType The type of histogram data in the current row with values such as TAT, TAD, Percent, TwentyMinTimeline, DiveDuration, DiveMaxDepth.

Date The date and time the histogram period started.

Time Offset Calculated difference between the tag's clock and the time reported by Argos.






NumBins The number of non-zero bins received in any of the current HistType messages.

Sum The sum total of the data in each bin on the current row.

Bin1… Tag data for the corresponding histogram bin.

-Labels.csv This is a list of the user created labels that were applied to this tag in the Data Portal.

-Lightloc.csv This spreadsheet consolidates the data used by Wildlife Computers GPE software.

Column Description


Index Counter that increments each time a light curve is identified.



DepthSensor Indicates the resolution of the depth sensor. Typical values are 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 m. The value in this column is blank if the gain was unavailable - in this case a 0.5-meter resolution is assumed.



Day The day the light curve took place.

Time The time the light curve took place.



InitLocQ The location quality of InitLat and InitLon.

InitTime The time when InitLat and InitLon were experienced by the tag.

InitLat Most appropriate available latitude within 24 hours of 'Day' and 'Time.'

InitLon Most appropriate available longitude within 24 hours of 'Day' and 'Time.'

Deepest The deepest depth the tag was at during the light curve.

SSTTime Time of day when the sea surface temperature was sampled.


SSTDepth Depth, in meters, when the temperature was sampled. If greater than 10 m, the value is not considered a reliable surface measurement and is not used in GPE3.

SSTTemp Temperature in degrees C of the sea surface.

Type The type of information contained in this row (Dawn curve, Dusk Curve, Begin = deployment start date, End = Deployment end date).

Delta The number of seconds between individual light level samples in the following list.

MinDepth The minimum depth in meters for any of the light level samples. The resolution is 32 meters. The midpoint end of the range is reported.

MaxDepth The maximum depth in meters for any of the light level samples. The resolution is 32 meters. The midpoint of the range is reported.

AttenShallow The shallow light attenuation constant calculated by the tag and used for this dawn or dusk.

AttenDeep The deep light attenuation constant calculated by the tag and used for this dawn or dusk.

TravelMetric A measure of the vertical distance traveled since previous dawn or dusk. The value is log2 of the sum of absolute values of all depth deltas.

FoundPrevious If the tagware detected the previous dawn or dusk, this value is set to 1. If the previous dawn or dusk could not be detected, this value is set to 0.

K A value that helps insure the integrity of the light level values.

LL0…. The light level samples.

Depth0…. The depth reading for each corresponding light reading.


-Locations.csv This spreadsheet consolidates all the Argos locations.

Column Description




Date The date and time of the location.

Type Type of location: Argos.

Quality Class of location generated by Argos for the satellite pass containing this message.

Latitude Latitude portion of the location.

Longitude Longitude portion of the location.


Error Semi-major axis


Error Semi-minor axis


Error Ellipse orientation


Offset This field is non-zero if the circle or ellipse are not centered on the (Latitude, Longitude) values on this row. "Offset" gives the distance in meters from (Latitude, Longitude) to the center of the ellipse.

Offset orientation If the "Offset" field is non-zero, this field is the angle in degrees from (Latitude, Longitude) to the center of the ellipse. Zero degrees is true north; a blank field represents 0 degrees.

GPE MSD Historical. No longer applicable.


GPE U Historical. No longer applicable.

Comment Optional text field.

-X-Locations.csv This spreadsheet consolidates Argos and Fastloc GPS locations. The 'X' represents the run number selected in GPS Solver on the Portal.

Column Description




Date The date and time of the location.

Type The type of location: Argos or GPS.

Quality Class of location generated by Argos for the satellite pass containing this message.

Latitude Latitude portion of the location.

Longitude Longitude portion of the location.


Error Semi-major axis


Error Semi-minor axis







GPE MSD Historical. No longer applicable.

GPE U Historical. No longer applicable.

Comment Optional text field.

-MinMaxDepth.csv This file is produced as a result of examining all sources of data received from the tag, and contains min and max depths experienced by the tag. To avoid having this file grow to a huge size, readings are approximately 6 hours apart or at the interval of the data summary bins, whichever is longer.

Column Description





Date The date that the data pertains to.





MinDepth The minimum depth during the period.

MinAccuracy The accuracy of the MinDepth. For example, "4" means the depth is accurate to within +/- 4 meters.

MinSource The data product that the depth was pulled from.

MaxDepth The maximum depth during the period.

MaxAccuracy The accuracy of the MaxDepth. For example, "4" means the depth is accurate to within +/- 4 meters.

MaxSource The data product that the depth was pulled from.

-MixLayer.csv The –MixLayer.csv file is created if Mixed Layer messages (MLT) are enabled on the tag. It contains information about the mixed layer including the percent time spent in and out of the layer.

Column Description






Date The time and date of the beginning of the mixing layer summary period.


Hours The length in hours of the summary period.




PerCentMLTime The amount of time the tag spends in the mixed layer as a percentage of the summary period.

MLTave The average of all temperature readings considered to be in the mixed layer for the summary period.

MLTmin The minimum of all temperature readings considered to be in the mixed layer for the summary period.

MLTmax The maximum of all temperature readings considered to be in the mixed layer for the summary period.

MLDExtreme The deepest observed depth reading that was considered to be in the mixed layer for the summary period.

SSTAve The average of all surface temperature readings in the summary period. A temperature is considered a surface temperature if the depth is no more than 5 meters.

SSTmin The minimum surface temperature reading in the summary period.

SSTmax The maximum surface temperature reading in the summary period.

TempMin The minimum observed temperature in the summary period.

DepthMin The minimum observed depth reading in the summary period.

DepthMax The maximum observed depth reading in the summary period.


-PDTs.csv A PDT is a Profile of Depth and Temperature. If suitably configured, several Wildlife Computers tags measure external temperature as a function of depth. At the end of each summarization period, the tag examines the collected temperature and depth readings and constructs a message containing a subset of the sampled values. This spreadsheet contains those readings.

Column Description






Date The time and date of the beginning of the PDT summary period.








NumBins Number of tuples of PDT available.

Partial This value indicates whether this PDT contains the full set of data for the summary period. Blank = the entire data set was received and decoded. 1 = Only the shallow part was received and decoded. 2 = Only the deep part was received and decoded.

Depth1 The depth at which a series of readings were taken.

MinTemp1 Minimum temp observed at corresponding depth.

MaxTemp1 Maximum temp observed at corresponding depth.

%Ox1 Percent Oxygen at the corresponding depth.

Discont1 This represents whether or not there was a discontinuity at this depth. 1 = discontinuity. 0 = no discontinuity.

-RawArgos.csv The RawArgos.csv includes all undecoded messages received from Argos, including satellite pass information.

Column Description

Prog The Argos Program number that the PTT ID belongs to.


Len Length of the message (number of bytes).

Satellite Satellite name.

Class Class of location generated by Argos for the satellite pass containing this message.

Pass This counter increments by 1 for each satellite pass that receives a message from the tag.


PassDate The date of the satellite pass.

PassTime The time of the satellite pass.



Comment An optional text field.

Frequency Calculated frequency of the transmitter.

Power The best received signal strength (dB) during the satellite.

IQ Argos-supplied value which gives transmitter frequency information.

Dups The number of times this message was received.

MsgDate The date that the message was received by Argos.

MsgTime The time that the message was received by Argos.

Latitude2 Argos DI messages contain a second latitude value, since their location algorithm can generate two possible positions. This is the second latitude value.

Longitude2 Argos DI messages contain a second longitude value, since their location algorithm can generate two possible positions. This is the second longitude value.

Duration Duration of the satellite pass.


Error Semi-major axis If the estimated position error is best expressed as an ellipse, this field gives the length in meters of the semi-major elliptical axis (one half of the major axis).


Error Semi-minor axis If the estimated position error is best expressed as an ellipse, this field gives the length in meters of the semi-minor elliptical axis (one half of the minor axis).





SENSOR #01…. Raw message data.

-RTC.csv Many tags incorporate an on-board clock to keep track of the current date and time. All clocks have some amount of drift depending on many factors such as initial calibration, reference frequency technology, ambient temperature, etc. The Data Portal maintains an internal database of tag time vs. real-world time and makes timestamp corrections when necessary. This spreadsheet details the Data Portal's internal correction database.

Column Description




CorrectionType The kind of clock correction represented by this entry.

Weak -This timestamp is not completely trusted. It was assumed or inferred. For instance, the clock is assumed correct at the beginning of a deployment, so that entry would be marked as “Weak.” Another kind of “Weak” correction might be a clock value transmitted by the tag, but without a corresponding CRC or checksum. Strong – The clock correction came from a trustworthy source. The tag’s transmitted time was accompanied in the transmission by a CRC or other means of validating the transmitted time value.


UserSupplied – The times were entered by the user (in the Portal) and are assumed correct.

TagDate Date on the tag.

TagTime Time on the tag.

RealDate Actual real-world date.

RealTime Actual real-world time.

-Series.csv Subsampled archive data that is sent through Argos. While potentially consuming significant bandwidth, detailed readings are sometimes critical. If the tag sends such time series data, the resulting decoded values appear in this spreadsheet. To reduce the bandwidth required to transmit these messages, special message encoding techniques are employed by the tag to pack more information into each Argos message. While this reduces the number of transmitted messages, the tradeoff is a reduction in the accuracy of the decoded values. The ‘DRange’ and ‘TRange’ columns characterize the potential error contained in the ‘Depth’ and ‘Temperature’ columns respectively.

Column Description







Day The day the time series data pertains to.

Time The time the time series data pertains to.




Depth Sample depth in meters.

DRange ± error band in meters for 'Depth.'

Temperature Sample temperature in meters.

TRange ± error band in degrees C for 'Temperature.'

-SeriesRange.csv This file is a companion file to the Series.csv spreadsheet. It consolidates the minimum and maximum values observed for depth and temperature. The tag is most likely sampling its sensors at a higher rate than what is transmitted in the Time Series messages; the values found in this file may have been observed during one of those higher rate samples. Therefore, it is possible that any min or max value found in this file might not be present in the Series.csv file.

Column Description








Start Start of the time period for which these ranges are valid.

End End of the time period for which these ranges are valid.




MinDepth The minimum depth observed during the period.

MinDepthAccuracy The accuracy of 'MinDepth.'

MaxDepth The maximum depth observed during the period.

MaxDepthAccuracy The accuracy of 'MaxDepth.'

MinTemp The minimum temperature observed during the period.

MinTempAccuracy The accuracy of 'MinTemp.'

MaxTemp The maximum temperature observed during the period.

MaxTempAccuracy The accuracy of 'MaxTemp.'


-SST.csv This spreadsheet is produced as a result of examining all sources of data received from the tag and contains a set of readings qualifying as possible Sea Surface Temperatures. A temperature reading within 5 meters of the surface is considered a valid SST. To avoid having this file grow to a huge size, readings are spaced out approximately 90 minutes apart.

Column Description





Date The date and time of the start of the summary period.




Depth The depth at which the temperature was measured.

Temperature The measured temperature.


Source Where the Depth and Temperature measurements came from. Knowing the source of the SST data is very important in understanding the meaning of the associated timestamp and the depth.

1) The MixLayer SST data is an estimate of SST integrated over the histogram summary period. So, if you are getting only one MixLayer message per day then the data is a daily summary and the timestamp marks the beginning of that summary period.

2) The TimeSeries SST data are very useful because they are individual discrete samples of temperature each marked with an absolute timestamp. The trouble with TS SST data is that the corresponding depth value can have a varying resolution depending on how the associated Depth was encoded.

3) The SST data contained in LightLoc messages are also discrete temperature readings, most likely sampled during the night, and the associated depths are reported at full resolution.

-Status.csv Every Wildlife Computers tag sends regular status messages in addition to transmitting its experimental information. Status messages contain information which indicate the health and overall state of the tag. Not all tags send the same information, so some columns will be blank for specific tags. For instance, the MiniPAT does not support haul out so the ‘HaulOut’ column will always be empty for a MiniPAT.

Column Description





SW The version of software on the tag.

RTC Value of the tag's onboard clock.


Received Time and date of message reception as reported by Argos.

Time Offset Calculated difference between the tag's clock and the time reported by Argos. Adding this value to the value in the 'RTC' column should yield the value in the 'Received' column.

LocationQuality Location class assigned by Argos for the computed position of the tag when this status message was received by Argos.

Latitude Latitude of the position of the tag generated by Argos when this status message was received by Argos.

Longitude Longitude of the position of the tag generated by Argos when this status message was received by Argos.

Type Some tags send strongly validated status messages, others do not. If this message was strongly validated, the field contains a value such as 'CRC' or 'CKSUM'. If blank, you may want to look for repeated messages to confirm the data is accurate.

HauledOut Contains '1' if the tag was hauled out at the time of the transmission, '0' if not hauled out, and is blank if the tag does not support haulout or if the original message did not contain haulout information.

BrokenThermistor Some tags have an external thermistor which may be subject to damage. This field is '1' if the tag has detected a broken thermistor, '0' if the thermistor is not broken, and blank if the tag does not transmit this information.

BrokenLink If the tag supports automatic release from the animal, and if the tag has the capability to determine if the release mechanism is currently intact, this field will contain a '0' if the mechanism is intact and a '1' if the mechanism is broken or released.

Transmits The number of Argos transmissions generated by the tag. NOT the number of messages received by Argos.

BattVoltage Battery voltage measured by the tag during the transmission of this status message.

TransmitVoltage Transmitter's Power Amp supply voltage. Used for diagnostics by Wildlife Computers.

TransmitCurrent Transmitter's Power Amp supply current. Used for diagnostics by Wildlife Computers.

Temperature Temperature measured by the tag just prior to this transmission.

Depth Depth sensor reading made just prior to transmission. Since the tag must be at the surface to transmit, this value should be close to zero and therefore indicates any drift in the sensor. The ZeroDepthOffset has not been applied to this value.

MaxDepth Maximum depth measured by the tag during some previous period (usually the previous day, but can vary depending on tag type).


ZeroDepthOffset The amount of offset that the tag is currently applying to the Depth sensor readings if the Zero Offset Correction feature is enabled on the tag. The feature is working correctly if 0 meters = Depth + ZeroDepthOffset*Resolution where Depth is the uncorrected value reported in this status message.

LightLevel Light level measured by the tag just prior to this transmission.

NoDawnDusk The number of days during the deployment for which no dawn or dusk curve was found. If present, the count includes only days prior to pop-off.

ReleaseType For pop-up tags, this is the most likely reason the tag released from the animal. Not all reasons are possible for all tags; other than blank, the possible values are:

Pin Broke - the tag sensed the release pin was broken and the tag found itself floating on the surface for an extended period of time. Floater - the tag's configured conditional release parameters were satisfied. Furthermore, the tag was configured to release only at the surface, or the tag was dry for the majority of the time during which the conditional release criteria was satisfied.

Battery Low - the tag's battery voltage dropped to a level that could not sustain continued deployment.

Scheduled - the tag released on the scheduled date.

Interval - the tag released after the programmed number of days.

Too Deep - the tag detected it was getting dangerously close to its maximum structural depth.

Premature - the tag's configurable conditional release parameters were satisfied.

ReleaseTime Time recorded by the tag's on-board clock when the tag initiated the release mechanism.

InitiallyBroken 1' if the release link was unexpectedly broken when release was initiated; '0' if not broken, and blank if unknown.

BurnMinutes Number of minutes the release link was energized before the tag detected the link had burned through.

ReleaseDepth Depth sensor reading when release was initiated.


FastGPSPower Number of mAH consumed to date by the Fastloc GPS board.

TWICPower Number of mAH consumed to date by the Argos transmitter.

PowerLimit Deployment may stop if consumed mAHrs exceeds this value.

WetDry The wet/dry sensor reading at the time of this status message.

MinWetDry The minimum wet/dry sensor value observed during the previous day.

MaxWetDry The maximum wet/dry sensor value observed during the previous day.

WetDryThreshold The current wet/dry sensor threshold value. Wet/dry sensor values above this value indicate the tag is dry. Sensor values less than this value indicate the tag is wet.

StatusWord This low-level diagnostic work Is sent to illuminate the tag's internal state. This is used for diagnostics at Wildlife Computers.

TransmitPower Some tags have variable power transmitters. This field indicates the tag's current transmitter power setting.

Resets The number of resets the tag has experienced during deployment. It should be blank or zero.

PreReleaseTilt The measured tilt in degrees for one hour prior to release.

PreReleaseTiltSd The standard deviation of the PreReleaseTilt measurements.

PreReleaseTiltCount The number of samples used to calculate pre-release tilt.

XmitQueue How many data messages are waiting to be sent.

FastGPSLocNumber The tag increments a counter every time a FastLoc snapshot is attempted. Success and failures are included in this count. This is the value of that counter at the time of transmission.

FastGPSFailures The tag increments a counter each time it attempts to gather satellite data but fails to see enough satellites. This is the value of that counter at the time of transmission.


BattDiscon If a tag has a dangerous goods switch, this field indicates whether the screw has been inserted. '1' if disconnected (screw not inserted), '0' if connected (screw inserted), and blank if the tag does not send this info.

-STP.csv This spreadsheet contains stomach temperature data.

Column Description





Day The date of the STP data.

Time The time of the STP data.


Type The kind of STP data. Values include: NoPill, High Resolution, Low Resolution, Feeding starts, Feeding Initial STP, Feeding Second STP, Feeding Minimum STP, Feeding Deepest Depth, and Feeding Ends.

STP Stomach Temperature as reported by the stomach temperature pill.

Depth The depth at which the element occurred.

Ext Temp The external temperature at which 'Type' occurred.

Descending A very crude and probably unreliable indicator which is '1' if the animal was descending and '0' if the animal was not descending.


-Summary.csv Each line in this spreadsheet contains information about one tag and gives general, high-level information about the tag's deployment.

Column Description




SW The tagware version on the tag, if available.

PercentDecoded The percentage of successfully decoded messages.

Passes The number of Argos satellite passes that detected the tag's transmissions during the deployment.

PercentArgosLoc The percentage of Argos satellite passes that resulted in a calculated Argos location. Multiple messages must be received on a pass for Argos to calculate a location.

MsgPerPass The average number of received messages per satellite pass.

DS The number of messages received from the tag including corrupt and duplicate messages.

DI The number of diagnostic reports generated by Argos on a per satellite pass basis.

MinPower The minimum received signal strength (dB) for all received transmissions as reported in the Diagnostic reports.

AvgPower The average of the reported received signal strength (dB) for all transmissions as reported in the Diagnostic reports.

MaxPower The maximum received signal strength (dB) for all received transmissions as reported in the Diagnostic reports.

MinInterval The shortest interval between received Argos transmissions for the tag.


EarliestXmitTime The time of the first received Argos transmission.

LatestXmitTime The time of the last received Argos transmission.

XmitDays The difference in days between LatestXmitTime and EarliestXmitTime. The number of complete days the tag has been transmitting.

EarliestDataTime The time stamp of the first data point, including status messages. This should be close to the deployment date.

LatestDataTime The time stamp of the last data point, excluding status messages.

DataDays The difference in days between LatestDataTime and EarliestDataTime. The number of days for which data was received through Argos.

ReleaseDate The date on which a pop-up tag released.

ReleaseType The reason a pop-up tag released, if it is known.

DeployDate The date the tag was deployed, if it is known.


Contacting Wildlife Computers U.S. and International Members of the Wildlife Computers technical sales and support team are located in Redmond, WA, USA, and Havelock North, New Zealand, allowing us to cover promptly a wide range of time zones. Mailing and Shipping Wildlife Computers 8310 154th Avenue NE, Suite 150 Redmond, WA 98052 USA E-Mail Sales, Quotes, and Inquiries: [email protected] Technical Support: [email protected] Phone Website +1 (425) 881 3048 WildlifeComputers.com

For Asian Clients While we welcome your direct correspondence, we recommend that you contact our colleague, Yong Huang, for assistance. Mr. Huang understands the special purchase processes for your countries and will provide you with the best service for the best price. He also is fluent in Japanese, Chinese, and English. Mailing address—Please ship tags to our main office Yong Huang Enfotran Corporation 1247 106th Place NE Bellevue, WA 98004 USA E-mail Phone [email protected] +1 (425) 456 0101

mailto:[email protected]



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